Thank you, Mr. Chair. Even though it was not a valid point of order, I will respond to Mr. Kelloway's assertion that there may be a hidden agenda.
We question whether there isn't a hidden agenda from the government's side on this, receiving only 24 hours' notice of a change in meeting. We had four other items on our FOPO work plan before this was to take place, and then to receive only 24 hours' notice and no notice of which officials would be appearing today.... We received, just a short four hours ago, the notice of which witnesses are appearing on behalf of the ministry. It takes us a certain amount of time to prepare questions depending on who we see on the witness list. I spoke with other members of the committee yesterday, and that was a concern of theirs as well. Without knowing which officials were going to be here today it was very difficult, if not impossible, to prepare adequate questions for the witnesses here at the meeting today. I take offence to Mr. Kelloway's thinking that there may be a hidden agenda here. I believe the hidden agenda is on the government's side in trying to push this through, making sure we get this done for some reason, but I don't know what that reason may be.
I go back to some of the recommendations we made in reference to “Foreign Ownership and Corporate Concentration of Fishing licences and Quota”. This is in regard to our west coast fisheries. I'm just going to read recommendation 2:
That the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard make it a condition of licence that the licence and quota holder be the licence owner with “boots on the deck” and that, before such licence is issued, it is proven that the licence holder is a Canadian citizen and/or a 100% Canadian-owned entity; that the proof of beneficial ownership be the responsibility of the licence holder in full, and that this policy be fully implemented within two years of the establishment of an independent fishery finance agency.
The government's response was: The Government acknowledges the committee's recommendation.
The Government recognizes the importance of having Canadians benefit from Canadian fisheries, which is why these are key principles in the Atlantic inshore fishery.
That's a positive sign. Canadians benefit from Canadian fisheries. They have those principles for the Atlantic inshore fishery, but they took little or no action to implement the same principles on our west coast.
It goes on:
Regular administrative reviews and enforcement actions allow DFO to ensure that licence holders are compliant with the inshore regulatory requirements under part III of the Atlantic Fisheries Regulations, 1985 and part I.1 of the Maritimes Provinces Fishery Regulations (referred to as the “inshore regulations”).
Atlantic midshore and offshore fisheries, as well as Pacific fisheries, each have different features. Where Atlantic inshore-style policies, Canadian ownership requirements on licence eligibility criteria, or beneficial ownership transparency requirements in commercial fisheries do not already exist, the Government must adequately consult and engage with all implicated fishery participants on the potential risks and benefits of any significant changes to the licensing regime. With this in mind, DFO is engaging on foreign ownership and the concept of owner-operator requirements as part of its work on West Coast Fisheries Modernization in 2024-2025.
We're now in 2024 and coming near the end of it. We have no idea what actions have been undertaken by the department to implement what they say here.